Your Technique Could Be Hurting Your Sound | Season Three, Episode 40 

If there's ANYONE who can tackle such a hot button flame-war causing issue with an unbiased educational "here's the facts, make up your own mind" focus, it's you guys.

I spent 30 years burying the beater and dealing with consequences - primarily sound issues when recording because the slap back I'd get off the head. For nearly a year and a half I've been working on driving from my hip and keeping my lower leg relaxed which has resulted in no longer burying the beater. Finally at the point where it's become unconscious and my bass drum sound is bigger than it's ever been. It just sounds so much better.

I absolutely use both at any given time. For me the decision to use one or the other is purely situationally-based, and what the particular song calls for. Rather than marrying myself to one or the other because reasons.

The technique that stumps me is when people bury the stick on the snare drum. It seems really common for some studio guys to do. I can't see how that even works.

I use both depending on the song. Off the head for slow songs and bury the beater for faster songs. I think it’s good to be able to do both and I even use both in a song that can use some ghost bass notes.

Essay Incoming...... I've mostly settled on playing off the head 95% of the time now, unless the tune calls for either the tone of a hard buried beater, or the inherent feel of it. There's a couple of reasons. I prefer to keep my legs at rest whenever they're not playing. From a feel/time perspective it's made my downbeats feel far less "anxious", and having my heals grounded between strokes helps to centre/ground me on the kit physically and, in turn, mentally. It also means that I'm always very deliberately choosing when to play a bass drum note. Like you said, "intentionality". The 2nd reason is a compositional / production consideration. If I'm playing an anticipatory "a" before a down beat, I don't usually want that "a" to have a lower pitch / rounder tone than the downbeat. It can feel a little anticlimactic. The inverse of that could certainly be used to create a more jarring "looped" transition though, which is something I've toyed with a little. Also, there's absolutely no reason why the 2 different tones produced from bouncing or burying can't be used as a melodic tool within the same groove. Big down beats contrasted with smaller mid phrase notes is a commonly used production tool. Thanks for listening to my entirely unrequested ted talk xox

Aquarian Super Kick 2. No extra muffling. I do both, depending on the sound I want. Nice video. Thanks.

I always buried the beater because I was self-taught (I wasn't a very good teacher, it turned out), and I thought that was how it was done. I wanted to play with power, and I thought that coming down hard on the pedal would do that, so my beater pretty much lived against the head, unless I was doing something fast that required lifting my foot quickly. If I'm nor mistaken, you did an exploration of beater-burying in Season 2, and that's inspired me to re-think my kick drum playing. I'm using an EMAD right now, and I really like the sound and punch of it. I have an Evans EQ Pad inside, and no reso, due to a lost hoop. I'm working on not burying the beater in my playing, and I'm having a bit more success.

I think you hit the nail right on the head when you talk about intention. Once you've acquired enough skill on your instrument to not only play, but to be able to express yourself in the moment, you inherently play with the intention of making a particular sound. That is the entirety of the point to technique, to be able to utilize the instrument in more ways than just one. My kick drum has eq4 calftones on both the batter and reso, no internal muffling, and I play almost exclusively with an old school fuzzy bomber style beater. I use the pressure of the beater to control the amount of sustain I want out of the kick. If I want a gigantic BOOM with long sustain, I play off the head. If I want a tight thud, I bury it. I am a big fan of max resonance out of my drums. I can always muffle them after the fact, but its hard to get the drum to sustain longer when its tuned to be choked out.

I typically bury the beater, I've done it for 20 years and have a really hard time not always doing it. However, in that time I have gained the control to be able to let off the head as an effect sound if I need a boomier and/or alternative tone (typically for softer passages). I use single ply bass drum heads with edge rings (ps3/eq4), a port on the reso, and no other muffling. This allows for me to lay into the drum but for it to still have some 'life' and tone.

There is definitely a difference in sound. To my experience, it all come down to what you’re playing. High speed tempo makes it almost impossible to bounce it back. On the other hand, it makes no sense to stick it to the drum head if you play relaxed and slow. I’ve personally been thought not to bury the beater but it really depends on what you play. So, I really don’t feel there’s much room to make a fight about this topic. Just enjoy playing the drums and don’t be afraid of learning something new. Great video, well present 👌

Some really good words at the end there

Im convinced that it was a good decision to become a Patreon-subscriber. Good stuff in each episode.

Beater off the head kinda guy here, and these are the reasons: - With the beater off you are in the best position to execute the next stroke, otherwise you have to go back with it and then forward. 1 movementes instead of 2. If we do it like that on the rest of the drumset, why would we want to use a contrary logic on the BD? - Soundwise, I hear the little rattle between the beater and the head... maybe it´s just my not so powerfull leg, as I strive for a low volume kind of playing - It undoubtedly requieres a lot more energy, which I'm not willing to (miss)use. - Every drummer I look up to emphisizes that relaxation is key, and, IMO, burying the beater is contrary to it - As you guys pretty much ilustrated, you can get very close to the sound you get burying the beater with the right amount of muffling and/or head, but not the other way around As we say in Argentina when you utter a controversial comment, ¨Vengan de a uno¨ (translates to something like ¨I´ll fight you one by one¨)

It's like speaking another language. I have been burying the beater for over 30 years. It is soooo difficult for me not to bury the beater. I have been trying to play beater off but it is a struggle. Thanks for these videos!

Off the head pretty much all the time over here! Both for sound and feel 👍 but I have NO DOUBT that a big part of that is from years of playing Iron Cobras which have that spring under the footboard that pushes the beater back at you every stroke. For better or worse I suppose!

Fight Fight Fight! I like to bury for accent emphasis. Startling moments of phrasing and most often when creating tension and release. Fluttering off the head building up and then w/o a cymbal crash just a forceful bury for release. Works well on smaller punch drum. Keep rockin!

For years i buried (pillow,no front head) until i studied with a latin percussionist who showed me how to interpret traditional latin grooves to drum set. Some of the feels required both staccato and open tones in the same measure. The idea of playing the bass open, not buried had never occurred to me and i noticed it sounded more full. It took me awhile to switch and now i release beater between notes, not bury it. Both techniques are good and like you said, whatever works for you.

I always buried the beater at home and at church. Mostly because of the batter head being pretty slack, and deep. My foot control wasn't the best and my technique was/is a work in progress. Started playing with a different Christian band on Saturdays and the kit at the church we practiced at the batter head was very tight. If I tried to bury the beater I would get multiple hits, unintentionally, but still. That was the point I started purposely playing off the head. Now that's my go to method. Like the tone and sustain over a thuddy attack.

Similarly I went from burying the beater to not burying the beater and then struggling to bury it when I wanted to after a long while playing that way. Then one rehearsal after letting the guitarist play on my kit and then jumping back on immediately after, I realised I could keep my same technique for when I play off the head and then if I wanna bury the beater I can just move my stool a little closer and play the exact same technique more or less. Massive game changer for me when I realised that. Now I just use the same technique and move my throne back and forth depending on the music etc.

I always play off the head because my first teacher taught heel-down. Now I play both down and up, but even when playing heel up, it involves putting the heel back down wherever possible - for example, if I play a string of 16th notes, all the notes are played heel up from the ankle except the last note, where I drop the heel as I play it - so it's more natural for me not to bury the beater. I also don't use any internal muffling, so burying the beater would feel weird. From a listener standpoint, the difference between the two doesn't sound very big when you have a large drum tuned really low, especially with a lot of muffling, as you mentioned. The tone difference is something I wouldn't worry too much about, unless I'm in the studio trying to capture the perfect tone. Peter Erskine demonstrated it on an 18" drum tuned high, and he was getting what sounded almost like two distinct pitches, on top of the differences in note length, overtones, etc. That's a difference situation where it matters a lot more. I like the sound in the video with internal muffling only, but I just stick with external/pre-muffled only. It's easier to deal with, and for some things I like the slightly longer note. Plus, my bass drum's air vent faces the ground, so if I don't want to cover it, I have to be careful with internal muffling - rolled up t-shirts, Remo/Weckl dampening system, etc., no large pillows or blankets. Although it probably doesn't matter when the front head is ported.

Playing off the head emphasizes the low sub tone and bearing the beater sounds gated and puncher. Great video!

Really great stuff! Thanks for your super helpful videos

The reason I love your channel is because you show many sides of playing without making it some arrogant statement like, "I'm right, you're wrong if you don't do it the way I say it should be done." As long as you enjoy and feel comfortable playing, that's all that matters. For me personally, it really depends on what I am playing, but typically I bury the beater because it sounds better to my ears. I don't like the heads on my bass drum to ring too long. My style is heavily rooted in Rock and R&B music, and most of the guys I became influenced by buried their beaters too. It also feels better to me while stating what needs to be stated without lingering on forever. It's also why I take the reso heads off my toms.

Well done, as always! I'm a 1-ply EMAD, bounce the beater kinda guy. Self taught, as an adult, 15 years ago. When I was learning I noticed that more rock players bury than not, but I never liked that sound, so I learned to bounce. I still feel that way. Center muffling with the beater never made any sense to me, sound wise. Burying does feel good and solid, and I'll do it on occasion for a special sound, but not much. But it is obvious that burying can sound great in the mix, since it's done by so many great players. I realized watching this that bouncing vs burying both sound good in the kick mic...different, but both good. Burying gets you that tight, quick thump that is so common. Bouncing gives a rounder thump, and I like both. But to my ears in the driver's seat, I don't like the sound of burying nearly as much. Very interesting!

Awesome episode guys!

keep on uploading guys. this channels great

I have the reversed problem. I used to never burry the beater till the last few years when a friend of mine said I should do to get a punchier sound for rock (since I played exclusively jazz until this point) and now I’m starting to have a hard time to NOT burry the beater lol.

I've never liked the sound of burying it, and I've always found it awkward feeling and difficult to do anyway, but now that I have switched out my towel-stuffed 22 with pre-muffled aquarian heads in favor of a 26" kick with just a batter-side felt strip for muffling and not even a port, it occurs to me that I haven't tried it since. Now I can't wait to get the house to myself and find out what that's all about LOL

Excellent video as always! I do bury the beater. When I was first taking lessons my instructor taught me to play this way. So I have ever since. I also like the the punchy focused sound I get from doing so. Plus, I find it to feel natural. When I keep time with music with my foot or "air drum," I am never conscious of how much pressure my foot is exerting on the floor. It just rests there until I use it again. But this will get me experimenting now for sure. Thank you for making this one!!

You should stop worrying about offending. I've never seen anybody more diplomatic, fair, and open-minded in the way you deliver information on potentially controversial topics. Keep up the excellent work and interesting topics!

I love that one ply head sound more than anything!

Great episode Cody / Ben. Clears a lot up I feel.

Cody.... like you... I've played both ways, but primarily hard rock and metal. With that style... I've always buried the beater. Due to speed alone, burying the beater is really the easiest/best way to go IMHO. However... I also tend to really lean into it for power/drive, and in doing so... it comes more natural for me to play that way in this genre. I feel that when playing slower tempos or light jazz type of drumming... the long notes that you get from not burying it, fills the space between hits. I don't do this, so take it for what it's worth... but with faster tempo music... the long notes that you get by not buying it, might actually get in the way during recording. You'll likely have to gate the kick on higher tempo stuff if you don't bury it. Great topic!

When I started drumming, it was always natural to bury the beater. It felt comfortable. Then I got a 20 inch Rogers kick drum from the late 60s and it wouldn't let me play that way. The sound is incredibly choked and the beater buzzes a lot. As that's not a pleasing sound to hear while practicing, I have adopted a more off the head, heel up technique. That said, I still felt most comfortable burying it and would like to have that as an option.

Another bit of fun is to incorporate both into the head and off of the head into certain grooves. I've fussed with something that's supposed to sound like samba by playing into the BD on 1 & 3 and off the head on 2 & 4 - to emulate what real samba players do with the surdo. Another version of that with a double pedal is to use the left BD foot to play into or off of the head and then the right BD foot to play off the head the whole time. It's a tweaked rhythm for samba but it gets to the same kind of vibe... or tries to....

Thank you for this great video! I used to bury the beater. A few years ago when I stumbled upon an instructional video of this unknown guy named Jojo Mayer :), I tried to practice unburying the beater. It was HARD! It didn't last long and decided to go back to burying the beater. Then when the lockdown happened in April 2019, we were doing more online jams and recording. I am using a 16" kick. After hearing the first few recordings of just the drums, I noticed the bass drum sound wasn't what I expected. Sure, after the drums have been mixed with the instruments and vocals, plus adding some EQ, compressors, etc, it's not evident at all that I was burying the beater. But personally, I just wanted the drums to sound good raw. So I had to practice unburying the beater... and re-watched Jojo's video. It sounded better on a 16" kick and now I have that in my technique together with burying the beater. I can use whichever sound I'm after or what feels better.

"Don't Fear The Beater"

I can't bring myself to bury the beater. I never have and I want dearly to have it in my repertoire... but... It just... feels... wrong.

Good job 👍

When starting out in 1964 my first drum set had ambassador heads with no port,no pillow.I found if I buried the beater I would get this flutter .I learned real quick how to pull the beater off the head.I feel it just gives me a full sound weather I choose the head LOOSE or tight depending what style I'm going for.

Hard topic to adress man, but you nailed it!

Both are useful.

BTW, the difference in single ply heads for bass drum, other than what you already mentioned, is the beater attack frequency. Thinner heads move the beater "click" up in the spectrum for a brighter attack. Double ply and heavy heads move it toward the midrange. The same can be said about tom heads. My maple drums really crack with single ply heads and I love it, but find lately that I need a little less for what I'm playing these days, so I'm transitioning (but it makes me a little sad- I love the thin head smack and resonance).

I enjoy y'all content

My drum teacher 40+ years ago, who played jazz and big band, told me to learn to play heel-down and to lift my foot on the up stroke and not bury the beater because, on an open or lightly muffled drum such as is played in those styles, the beater would buzz, it would kill resonance, and it was hard to play dynamically. In my own experience, I found he was right.

Great video, I agree with your closing thoughts coming from some of your drum heroes stating that they don't think very much about which technique they us while performing, just do what serves the music. I'd like to know if have the channel has explored how raising the front of the bass drum off the ground by over extending the spurs affects the beater and batter head angle resulting in drastic sound changes and playability? If you have which episode was it please?

The fact that this doesn't have any dislikes yet means we must not be fighting yet! LOL!

The way I look at it is from the context of orchestral music. Does a percussionist always play a bass drum muffled, dampened, effected, with only one type of mallet or stroke? Or open and unmuffled? Depends on what the music calls for.

I like what you said at the end because I believe I do both. Typically I don't but when im jammin I feel that I do. Sometimes I just Jam and have ya know

I'm rarely looking for hard attack or big volume, so heel down and playing off the head is my usual. But to get the sound and feel I want, it's less about heel up v. heel down and more about beater choice. Would love to see a vid where you keep the tuning the same and try a range of beaters, heel up and heel down.

For me, it's all about keeping unnecessary tension from my leg. If I bury the beater, I have to keep pressure with my toe. If the beater rebounds, I can let my leg rest between strokes, with my heel on the ground, which makes me feel more relaxed, overall. It feels like an extension of my hand technique. I also prefer the feel of the beater rebounding. I can feel the vibration of the beater against my foot the same as my sticks vibrate against my fingers from the impact. Just as playing with relaxed hands keeps the vibrations of my sticks from traveling up my arms, letting the beater rebound & my leg come to rest on the floor keeps the vibrations from traveling up my leg.

one time in my youth when I used psilocybin mushrooms once before doing a recording session - I lost all control of how hard I was smashing the pedal and was the first and only time I punched through the bass drum head - 30 seconds in. I immediately switched to doing the bass drum patterns on my floor tom, so that day I made a mistake and then learned a whole different concept on the fly. I have the recording still :) I guess some might call that a 'Gary Chester' ;)

I recently got a 24" and tuned the head up higher than normal for me and used no muffling. I had a hard time burying the beater. It kept stuttering. So I put muffling in and loosened it up and I was able to bury the beater. I thought that was interesting that I couldn't keep the beater against the head.

Chad Smith had an interview in a drum magazine probably 20+ years ago where he said to never bury the beater. I took that to heart. But more importantly than that, burying the beater requires additional effort and puts you in a less ready position to play the next note. As you proved in this video, you can get really close to that sound through muffling. If you can get that sound without sacrificing playability and feel, I see no reason to ever bury the beater.

I use both techniques, in my metal band I bury the beater and use the lower, more muffled bass drum sound and in my blues band I bounce the beater with a higher tuning for that more boomy sound.

Without watching this video first for me it does make a difference. I play a lot of live shows and sometimes the sound systems are not up to par so Im using a full front head along with a Remo Black dot head with tone control no microphone holes or muffling im ringing the shell on that baby hard but if I hold the beater down as I often do on the last note its like muting a guitar string so to speak makes a quicker end note. In my opinion it really just depends on your set up, I do not use the same tunning in the studio as I do live.

I quit burying the beater, because the burying was unintentional. Not to bury was about learning control, so I can decide which to do. Also I liked the resonant sound of the bass drum. Another reason is keeping up the constant movement also on the kickdrum. Especially in fast ankle motion double bass, burying the beater is not an option. You really can't play fast ankles if you can't return the beater up from the drum head. The sound difference is really slight when the kick is tuned that low. I doubt that it'd matter in a song with othet instruments. But I think very good point is that if you had higher tuning and a song that requires very resonant and boomy Colin Baley kick. Then if you'd like to include the burying into the playing "for the sound" would make a difference. Because you could really do things with choking the bass drum and letting it resonate. 🤔 bom boommm kahbooommm bom kah. 😄

The vast majority of the time I do not bury the beater. I think we should learn how to properly master both techniques. I am not dead set against burying the beater because there are times where it fits the particular situation I am in. But by and large I do not bury the beater. Most of the time if it's a simple four-on-the-floor beat I find myself burying. But it's really situational whether or not I press in or let it bounce.

90% of the time I don't bury the beater. I usually think it sounds and feels better doing it that way on my kick, with the heads I have, and the way I usually tune it. BUT, I used to play in a band where I would use a bandmate's kit for rehearsals, and with his kick and heads, burying the beater sounded way better. So, I started practicing with my heel up at home to prepare for rehearsals, and would then go heel down for gigs where I was using my own kick...it's a constant struggle (I think my kick sounded better, but I would say that.)

I guess I'm the exact opposite of what you hope for. I don't know if I bury the beater or not. If I try to think about it, I mess it up. I'll need to set up a camera and try to forget that it's there in order to find out what I "naturally" do. I grew up playing a lot of faster music, so I'm guessing I play off the beater when the bass drum notes are coming quickly, and I probably bury the beater on slower beats.

I play metal, I like speed with double pedal I aquired a pair of on pedal trigger I usew to burry the beater, And when I had a teacher, that play even more metal than me, he told me to relax, and not burry the beater, Burrying created false triggering (especialky with a slave pedal touching the head, that was mooving along the head when I was striking the head with the main pedal) And as I practice a lot my feet, it come a time when you don't feel your pedal, so you get higher tension, and it allows more control over high speed for me, With that said, I was also always tensed by letting rhe beater on the head ALL the time When I changed my technique, and that took me more than a year, to let the beater go freely, it changed all, I was more relax, was able to play longer diuble depal run, and less false trigerring But I abandoned triggers since the sound was not what I was looking for

Cool video. What snare are you playing in this one? Sounds amazing.

6:39 A little Rosanna vibe! 😎

I dont get to play acoustic kits at any time other than live, and even though I practice on a top level electric kit (Roland TD 50) I can't replicate this, so I have been pretty dedicated to not burying the beater. I can't wait until I can play acoustic again, but covid fears have shut down most of the places where I gigged... I prefer the sound of a drum which doesn't come through when the beater is buried.

I try to bounce the beater. I also like an open sounding drum, little or no muffling, just tune best I can and hit the centre of the drum. I said I try: for a while, my posture was bad so I would fall onto the pedals, and hence bury the beater. As i’m fixing that posture problem, my beater action is more under control.

As a more intermediate player, I just find it easier and more comfortable to burry the beater. Im practicing simpler zeppelin songs and its just easier for me to bury it, though I'm aware Bonham didn't really play that way. I would like to be more versatile after different sounds though.

I am really interested in any info on Dave King's approach to playing both off of and into the head (he is on of many cats who mixes it up). I think this is a good introduction, but there seems to be another dimension to this topic for pulling a variety of sounds out of a single tuning and muffling by using a mix of techniques. Based on my experience trying to rip off some Pros, playing into the head is more complicated than simply "burying the beater."

As far as I am concerned its a tempo thing,faster speeds require you to bury the beater for tone and balance, slower tempo means more room for open sounds and thus full tones.

I absolutely love the sound of the kick drum! How do you guys tune it or make it sound how it is?

O.K. I'll belly up to the bar. I use both, but like you, have had a hard time training myself to do this after years of playing off the head. That was due mostly to the type of music I played. Now I am doing different stuff. Different music, different tonal and feel demands. So I like to compare for analogy sake. Take a horn player. Would they sound any good at all or have a solo that could serve their music if they only played long full notes without regard to tonguing notes and articulation? No. How would a guitar player sound if he were not allowed to palm mute? How about a bass player that was not allowed to slap or use anything but staccato plucking (pizzicato)? O.K. , Rocco not with standing, but he is not playing anything other than his own stuff. For more than 50 years! Ah, now we see the logic. You have to use both for, sound and articulation purposes, particularly if you play a variety of styles and a large number of songs. Bonham would be more open and off the head, but not exclusively. Phil Rudd may be a more of a bury it guy. But not exclusively. Point is, play what works for the music you are playing. On a more open drum, I will use both, particularly in jazz gigs, but then I will throw a towel next to my pedal on the 2 or 3 funk tunes that we may play in a set. And with that towel, I am doing it for more punch and articulation, so I will play into the head more and not off of it. We need to think in terms of note value more. Longs and shorts. Not just on snare drum, but on all drums. Phrasing with the music to create feel. Feel is created by the length of notes, time, micro timing and so on. You have to be able to use both if you want to sound professional. If all you play is your own creations and all you like is a single note value length, then great. If you play covers, you have to do it all. So just like you would never limit yourself to a double stroke roll and use only singles, why limit yourself to one foot technique? My biggest challenge is getting double bounce from my beater and that is probably because I am still needing to really bury it, not kind of bury it. This only happens with my DW pedals and not with a Yamaha, or a Speed King. This may have to do with beater hardness or pedal efficiency. Not sure. Sorry, I am off topic. Great episode Cody.

Different techinques, different sounds, different purposes, why does there have to be a right or wrong? If I use a clear snare head because it gets me the sound I want, how could that be wrong? Is that illegal and the drum police will be coming to pick me up? Just one thing I noticed: When playing heel up it's harder to not bury the beater because you'd have to keep your leg up and tense up your body, or unnaturally move the foot further down the foot plate. I play both depending on the music I'm playing, but when I play off the head I play heel down because it's more comfortable. And I'd need a slow mo footage to see if I'm playing off head or burying the beater when playing heel toe...

Different strokes for different folks!

The only gripe i have with burying the beater is that my bass drum tends to go forward

is it normal to not be able to bury the beater ? usually when the try to bury the beater, the bass drum head kinda flutters and like vibrate (?????)

i bury the beater just cuz it's way more comfortable for me and because i just like the sound better

I stopped burying when I heard a recording and the attack sounded very farty.

A few weeks ago I was tracking and burying the beater, when I went to mix and isolated the kick there was an annoying buzz roll thing happening. Had to redo the track playing off the head to prevent the "buzz", it sounded better without the buzz roll but lost the "punch" and energy of playing burying the beater. Any technique or set-up tips to prevent this from happening? (Speed king, rubber side of beater, 22" ludwig 3-ply with PS3 batter no damping.)

I never bury it. It just feels wrong. I play metal with a pretty muffled kick drum, and very high spring tension, so it is not worth the energy to bury the beater especially since it can cause issues when using triggers

Pulling off for me.

Did you get a new camera?

what about when people bury the stick into their snare drum? what on earth is that thing??

I will make a suggestion for our newer drummers. If you don’t have a preference yet, start out playing unburied and out of the head. My reasoning for this is simple: if you learn that first it is a simple matter to just bury it when you want that sound and you will be able to do both effectively. If you start out burying it , it will possibly cripple your balance because if you start out burying it’s easy to start leaning on your pedals and putting all of your weight on your feet instead of your butt. This will cause a facility issue as you learn more and play faster kick patterns. I played this way for the first 5 years and unlearning the lean while burying was the most torturous and frustrating 3 months ever. I’d say if you are going to begin with burying at least be VERY aware that that does not mean you should use the kick pedal as a balance crutch. I now play both on a situational basis.

A fuzzy beater would help the comparison, and also enables you to hit the bass drum part way between the "bury" and "off" sounds.

I'll bury the beater only if I want two bass drum hits in close proximity to sound different; usually I'll bury the beater on the first kick and let it ring out more on the second one.

omg dont eeeven get me started here.......

Please don’t bury the beater, good drummers don’t do it. It's a matter of choosing between playing it wrong or playing it the way it should be played, but what kind of choice is that?

first

People who only bury the beater bug me lol